Ever since I was a child I felt a little bit of an outsider. Sometimes not just a little bit. In fact, I often felt that hardly anyone spoke the same language as me. I spent my days interacting in the expected manner, without much emotional involvement. Even then I was aware of the roles we all had to play to be accepted, and there were very few places where I felt I didn’t have to live up to expectations.
As an adult and mother of two, the experience has intensified. I have become increasingly sensitive to the restrictions of every day role play and the way we are so often unable to shake off the ties that are imposed upon us.